Imagine: every day there are as many human deaths by environmental pollution as by the Hiroshima Bomb. The trend for an unprecedented rate of urbanisation, growing resource consumption and consequently the devastation of the natural environment seems unstoppable. Some people are paralysed, some ignorant and some follow promises of salvation by 'green' technology applications. In a holistic understanding of the built environment as metabolism of natural resources, human needs according to scale, system principles, and innovation strategies, this book analyses how urban development ended up in the here and now. It argues that the only way how to reintegrate human existence into the natural ecological system is to follow the principles of a balanced nature. The reader discovers how ecological systems work and how to transfer these principles to urban systems. This results in correlations for the creation of future cities through generating ecological solutions for and with the built environment: Urban Ecolution. As a pocket generator in enables everyone to systematically think about and solve emerging urban issues by becoming an inventor of Urban Ecolutions for ecologically integrated cities of the future.

Among Buildings joins 3+2 Durbach Block Jaggers on the shortlist for the Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing. Five finalists and a winner will be announced at the NGV Melbourne Art and Book Fair in March.